Teaching quality impacts classroom instruction. Teaching is difficult, demanding and draining work; teaching in urban environs exacerbates the difficulties, the demands and the complexities of teaching. Through the eyes of an assistant superintendent, charged with implementing a new vision for literacy teaching and learning, this manuscript…

This research was an exploratory study in a large city in central Canada that examined kindergarten teachers' beliefs about students' knowledge of print literacy, as well as their beliefs about parental involvement with children in print literacy activities. The role of families' socioeconomic status was examined in relation to teachers' beliefs.…